US-EU-Iran: EU reaches its level of mission in compliance with the EU funding treaties, Next step?

The Author

Astrid Viaud holds a doctorate in political and social sciences from the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL, Belgium). Her thesis analysed “The coercive action of the European Union with regard to sanctions in the international order: the cases of Iran, Syria, and Russia”. She is a visiting researcher at Vocal Europe working on EU-Iran relations.

On May 8, 2019, a year to the day after the US unilateral withdrawal from the Agreement, Iran took a new step by suspending two of its major commitments to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The Director of the Iranian National Atomic Energy Organization, M. Ali Akbar Salehi, declared:

“We will no longer be obliged to comply with the 300-kilogram limit for the production of uranium enriched up to a level of 3.67-percent purity as well as the 130-tonne limit for the production of heavy water. We will no longer have any obligation to comply with those production ceilings. That was the president’s message today. He meant we will not be obliged to abide by these production ceilings for a period of 60 days.”[1]

Iran issued a 60-day ultimatum to the Europeans, China, and Russia. Teheran called them to compensate for the Iranian economic loss incurred in the oil and banking sectors under US sanctions. After this time limit, Iran will reserve the right to suspend further commitments under the Agreement, such as the reconstruction of the Arak nuclear power plant. “After 60 days, we will make a decision on whether we press ahead with our own plans for Arak that we had already put in place before the JCPOA agreement was reached to complete the reconstruction of Arak,” President Hassan Rohani declared[2].